Last night I got some last minute tickets to the Los Angeles Dodger’s 11th game of the season against the Reds. The stadium was celebrating Jackie Robionson Day! As a result the give away for the night was a custom white Dodger’s jersey with Robinson’s 42 emblazoned on it. So in addition to all the fans wearing 42, all the players on both the Dodgers and the Reds also wore their respective jersies, but with the number 42! It made the game a lot harder to follow and score, but it was a fantastic way to honor Robinson’s career. All I can say is that #​​42 had a particularly spectacular night on my score card.

I also had some pretty spectacular tickets for the game. I had tickets in the Lexus Dugout Club in Section 1DG, Row GG, Seat 8 which ostensibly meant that I was in row 6 immediately behind home plate. I’ve been in rows 2 and 4 in the same section before at Dodger’s games, but they still don’t rate as impressive as the below-field-level tickets I had for a Padre’s game right next to the dugout were if I put my arm straight out, my finger was literally touching the dirt on the field and my yelling as a fan was able to cause a spat between the home plate umpire and the visiting team’s coach!

Happy Jackie Robinson Day

Celebrating Jackie Robinson

A shot of my feet and home plate

The view to the right of my seat

The view to the right of my seat

My view for tonight’s Dodger’s game

Celebrating one of my favorite players from the 1990’s Atlanta Braves pitching staff.

I had to stop by the trophy room and pay homage.

At the entrance of the Lexus Dugout there’s a lifesize photo of Jackie Robinson

Front entrance to Dodger Stadium just 11 minutes prior to the start of sold out game 11 against the Reds.

Welcome to the world Boden Finley Aldrich. Born December 16, 2018 at 5:27 AM. 8 lbs 5 ozs, 21.5 inches, and a triple nuchal chord. You're the cutest little tough guy and loved by many! Leah is recovering nicely from a quasi emergency c-section after many hours of labor during a hopeful home birth.

Our local neighborhood gets together at 10am on the 4th of July for a neighborhood parade. There are far more people in the parade than watching it, so it’s more like a gathering at the top of the street in preparation followed by a procession to the bottom of the street where there’s another gathering with snacks and drinks. Those who are along the parade route seem to eventually join the parade and walk to the end for the party.

There were some truly creative little costumes and decorations, but I think my favorite part of the parade today was a bewildered coyote that was coming up the street in the opposite direction of the parade who was shocked to see a mob of people with horses and a firetruck coming down the street. He managed to run off down a side street and escape.

Potato the dog watching from the sidelines

The first wave of bike riders goes by

The walking portion of the parade starts to go by

Here comes the firetruck

Lots of kids in wagons parading today

There were lots of dogs with hats.

I didn’t get a photo of the coyote, but he went that way!

Here come the horses

Kids hanging out at the end of the parade

Treats for all ages

People giving out popscicles

The cupcakes were popular

Didn’t get to ride on the firetruck? Come check it out after-the-fact.

Some images from the walk down to Eaton Canyon this afternoon. There was enough rain over the last few days that there’s a lot of water still running through the arroyo. So much so that I didn’t want to chance crossing it to see the waterfall at the end.

I caught some video of the water flowing through as well. This portion is rather wide and shallow so it’s much slower than other portions. Typically this section of the arroyo is bone dry for almost 360 days of the year.

Ingredients

fruit: usually dried currants, raisins, chocolate chips, or other fruit

egg

heavy cream

fruit zest (orange, lemon, grapefruit, other)

cinnamon

Other fats could be substituted for the butter, but butter generally tastes best here. For the small handful of health conscious non-professional home cooks, absolutely do not substitute milk for the cream, otherwise the fat ratio for the recipe will be thrown completely off and your results will be horrifying.

Ratio

Professional kitchens scaling the recipe beyond 75 oz of flour, may wish to use 1.25 parts of sugar for more even results.

Directions

Preheat oven to 425° F.

Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt until mixed thoroughly.

Cut the cold butter into the flour mixture with a pastry blender until the lumps of butter are just larger than the size of a pea. Any smaller and the scones will be tougher and less flaky.

Mix together the cream, egg, (optional currants, raisins, fruit), and the zest, then mix into the flour/butter just until the dough comes together.

Do not overwork the scone dough or the resultant scones will not be light and flaky. You should preferably be able to still see small chunks of butter in the dough.

Roll the dough out into a disk about 1.5″ thick.

Brush a light layer of cream (or milk) onto the top of the disk and sprinkle on a nice layer of cinnamon and sugar.

Using a dough scraper cut the dough into eight equal wedges and place onto cooking sheet.

Put the sheet of scone dough into the oven at 450 for 12-15 minutes until golden brown, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Cool for a few minutes and then enjoy fresh with clotted cream and fresh fruit.

Step-by-step photos

Follow the instructions in the captions below:Ingredients for making scones

Mise on place for scone ingredientsClose up of scone ingredientsWhisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and saltPut the cold butter into the flour mixture.Cut in the butter with a pastry blender until the lumps of butter are just larger than the size of a pea. Any smaller and the scones will be tougher and less flaky.Mix together the cream, egg, (optional currants, raisins, fruit), and the zest, then mix into the flour/butter JUST until the dough comes together.Do not overwork the scone dough or the resultant scones will not be light and flaky.Roll the dough out into a disk about 1.5″ thick.Brush a light layer of cream (or milk) onto the top of the disk.Close up of the dough disk with cream. You should preferably be able to still see small chunks of butter in the dough.Sprinkle on a nice layer of cinnamon and sugar.Close up of the texture of the dough.

Using a dough scraper cut the dough into eight equal wedges and place onto cooking sheet.Put the sheet of scone dough into the oven at 450 for 12-15 minutes until golden brown, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.Cool for a few minutes and then enjoy fresh with clotted cream and fresh fruit.